SEXUAL SELECTION. 233 



ind have consequently transferred their new characters to both 

 ■sexes at a corresponding late period; and if so, these cases are 

 not opposed to our rule: — there exist sub-breeds of the pigeon, 

 described by Neumeister,* in which both sexes change their color 

 during two or three moults (as is likewise the case with the 

 Almond Tumbler), nevertheless, these changes, though occurring 

 rather late in life, are common to both sexes. One variety of the 

 Canary-bird, namely the London Prize, offers a nearly analogous 

 case. 



With the breeds of the Fowl the inheritance of various charac- 

 ters by one or both sexes, seems generally determined by the 

 period at which such characters are developed. Thus in all the 

 many breeds in which the adult male differs greatly in color from 

 the female, as well as from the wild parent-species, he differs 

 also from the young male, so that the newly-acquired characters 

 must have appeared at a rather late period of life. On the other 

 hand, in most of the breeds in which the two sexes resemble each 

 other, the young are colored in nearly the same manner as their 

 parents, and this renders it probable that their colors first ap- 

 peared early in life. We have instances of this fact in all black 

 and white breeds, in which the young and old of both sexes are 

 alike; nor can it be maintained that there is something peculiar 

 in a black or white plumage, which leads to its transference to 

 both sexes; for the males alone of many natural species are either 

 black or white, the females being differently colored. With the 

 so-called Cuckoo sub-breeds of the fowl, in which the feathers are 

 transversely pencilled with dark stripes, both sexes and the chick- 

 ens are colored in nearly the same manner. The laced plumage 

 of the Sebright bantam is the same in both sexes, and in the young 

 chickens the wing-feathers are distinctly, though imperfectly 

 laced. Spangled Hamburgs, however, offer a partial exception; 

 for the two sexes, though not quite alike, resemble each other 

 more closely than do the sexes of the aboriginal parent-species; 

 yet they acquire their characteristic plumage late in life, for the 

 chickens are distinctly pencilled. With respect to other characters 

 besides color, in the wild-parent species and in most of the domes- 

 tic breeds, the males alone possess a well-developed comb; but in 

 the young of the Spanish fowl it is largely developed at a very 

 early age, and, in accordance with this early development in the 

 male, it is of unusual size in the adult female. In the Game 

 breeds, pugnacity is developed at a wonderfully early age, of 

 which curious proofs could be given; and this character is trans- 

 mitted to both sexes, so that the hens, from their extreme pug- 



" 'Das Ganze der Taubenzucht,' 1837, s. 21, 24. For the case of the 

 streaked pigeons, see Dr. Chapuis, 'Le pigeon voyageur Beige,' 1865, 

 p. 87. 



